The
S outhern C ross
September 10 to September 16, 2014
Bishop’s sermon raises R100 000
Reg No. 1920/002058/06
No 4890
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Calvary film: Review, interview with director
Regrets? Time for an inner spring clean
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Head of Catholic uni leaves after just ten months BY STUART GRAHAM
Young Italian missionaries, and two nuns, show their exuberance on the beach of St Lucia in the vicariate of Ingwavuma, KwaZulu-Natal. They spent a month in Swaziland at the invitation of Bishop José Luis Ponce de León, who also took this photo.
Young Italians were touched by their Swaziland mission BY STUART GRAHAM
A
GROUP of young Italians who spent a month exploring Swaziland as “simple missionaries” say they have experienced the beauty and kindness of Africa but also the incredible hardship. The group, who were invited to the kingdom by Bishop José Luís Ponce de León of Manzini, spent much of their time exploring missions where they were confronted with hardships such as tuberculosis, Aids and poverty. “We have found that in Swaziland there is widespread tuberculosis and that hospitals are equipped to treat this disease for free,” the group said in blogpost of their experience. The group said they had visited schools where they found classes packed with between 50 and 70 pupils each. A large number of the pupils had HIV or were Aids orphans. “Many of the schools have been built and run by Catholics, but Catholics throughout Swaziland are only 5%,” the group said. Bishop Ponce de León said planning for the trip started at the beginning of the year when the superior-general of the Sisters of St Peter Claver asked him if he knew a place where a group of young people could have a missionary experience for one month. “I thought...why not Swaziland,” said Bishop Ponce de León. “After consulting in the diocese I suggested they come here.” The bishop met the group before they
came to Swaziland in the town of Nichelino when he was in Italy. The group come to the diocese “not just to visit and to know about our joys and struggles but would also be available to give a hand, be with the people, play and pray with them”, he said. “I believe their main concern was to make sure they would be ‘with the people’,” he said. Three parishes hosted the group: Good Shepherd, St Peregrine’s and St Mary’s. “The first day they stayed in Manzini and we introduced them to four important topics: the Church, culture, the political situation, and HIV/Aids,” the bishop said. “They had to have their eyes open to see and their ears and heart to listen so that they could be touched by the particular reality of the place and of each person.” Bishop Ponce de León said he made it clear to the group that it was important that they were able to adapt. “One organises many things but it is not always possible to do as planned. They understood, adapted and saw that as an opportunity to learn something new,” he said. The group did not want to be seen as “Father Christmas”. The gifts they brought were left for distribution by the communities. “Their time with the people was just to be with them,” said Bishop Ponce de León. “They had the kind of simplicity that made them welcomed in every place.”
T
HE president of St Augustine College, Dr Madge Karecki, has resigned her post on medical grounds, less than a year after taking office. Brian Scallan, chairman of the St Augustine board of directors, said the board, staff and students were “greatly saddened” by Dr Karecki’s departure from South Africa’s only Catholic university. “Dr Karecki steered the college out of a financial crisis and has set it on a firm course for which we are deeply grateful,” Mr Scallan said of the US-born nun. Professor Nicholas Rowe, the academic dean of St Augustine, will fulfil the tasks of the president until the board of directors makes a new appointment. Dr Karecki is a Sister of St Joseph of the Third Order of St Francis (SSJ-TOSF). “I have had health problems and recently I lost an eye,” Sr Karecki told The Southern Cross. “My religious superiors thought it would be better for me to return to Chicago.” Sr Karecki said one of her priorities when she took charge at St Augustine’s was to establish a new board. “We had to find people who would be dedicated,” she said. “I contacted people I knew from before and they led me to other people. We formed a good active board who are working to bring about new level of sustainability. They are getting it right.” During Dr Karecki’s tenure as president of St Augustine, the college successfully negotiated for and secured financial support from the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Catholic Order of the Knights of Da Gama, which resulted in the official re-launch of the College on May 13. The support ensured that the college remained at its present campus in Victory Park, Johannesburg, which the institution otherwise would have had to sell. She said a formidable challenge faced by the university now was to enrol more students. She appealed for Catholics to support the university, especially when undergraduate progammes resume, planned for 2016. “We need students. Catholic universities
Southern Cross & Radio Veritas Pilgrimage For info phone Gail at 076 352 3809 or 021 551 3923 info@fowlertours.co.za fowlertours.co.za
THE SAINTS OF ITALY Led by Fr EMIL BLASER OP
Rome, Assisi, Florence, Padua, Milan, Venice and more
6 - 18 September 2015
Rome WITH PAPAL AUDIENCE | Assisi | Venice | Padua | Florence | Milan | Cascia (St Rita) | Siena (St Catherine) | Norcia (St Benedict) | Birthlace of St John XXIII
Sr Madge Karecki, who has left St Augustine College, South Africa’s only Catholic university, after ten months in charge for health reasons. During her short tenure, the US-born nun was instrumental in securing the future of the university. are always open to all races, all religions and those with no religion—but we need support of Catholics so we can grow,” she said. The university, which stresses the humanities and life-long learning, has small enough classes to give individual attention to students, creating “remarkable results”, she said. “We are trying to get the word out, to show what we offer uniquely,” she said. The university aims through excellent teaching and rigorous research to form students into “ethical and responsible leaders”, Sr Karecki said. “While refocusing its educational offerings, under Dr Madge’s leadership the college continued to serve the critical needs of higher education in South Africa and the African continent by fostering ethical leadership in all sectors of society” Mr Scallan said. In addition to her presidential functions, Dr Karecki taught the undergraduate course on missiology, published a number of articles and attended local conferences and seminars. Dr Karecki was the second woman president of St Augustine, after Schoenstatt Sister Edith Raidt, the university’s founding president.